Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Curtis Borchardt(2.11-C) will be the new center of ASVEL Villeurbanne and the team has created a mini game on the front page of their official website to playfully announce the very important transfer for their upcoming Euroleague season. Borchardt has been the starting center of Granada for the last 4 seasons and during that time he has grown significantly as a player.

After graduating from Stanford University in 2002, he was selected 18th overall in the first round by the Orlando Magic in the 2002 NBA Draft but was traded to the Utah Jazz. He played for 2 seasons in Utah and was traded to Boston that he left for Granada. This season he has averaged 12.3 points 9.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 26 games of the ACB league.

Le Mans Basket announced via their official website, the renewal of the contract for american combo guard Dewarick Spencer(1.93-PG/SG). Spencer will be another player in a long line of renewals and transfers for Le Mans after renewing Batista, Diot, Jackson and signing Ruppert.

Dewarick Spencer is not a stranger to France. He has played before for Chorale Roanne for 2 seasons which were his first pro seasons in Europe after graduating from Arkansas State in 2005. He has also played for Virtus Bologna and Efes Pilsen. Last season he averaged 13.7 points 3 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 10 games in the Euroleague. This season Le Mans will be taking place in the qualifying rounds of the Euroleague.

Regal FC Barcelona and Jaka Lakovic have agreed to terms to keep the guard at the club for two more years. Lakovic (186, 30) has spent the past three seasons with Barcelona and joined the Euroleague's exclusive 2,000-point club this past season.

He averaged 9.9 points and 2.9 assists in 18 Euroleague games last year, despite missing time midseason due to nasal surgery. Lakovic shined brightest in the Quarterfinal Playoffs, recording 14.8 points and 2.6 assists per game to lead Barcelona to the Final Four. The Lakovic signing comes days after the club added forward Pete Mickeal as Barcelona looks to strengthen the squad that reached the Final Four and won the Spanish League title.

Armani Jeans Milano made important signing yesterday. The Italians inked 2-year deal with Lithuanian big guy Marijonas Petravicius (208-F/C-79, college: S.Carolina), who was one of the most important Lietuvos Rytas' players last season. As a reminder, the Lithuanians finished the season with 4 trophies (EuroCup, Baltic league, Lithuanian league and Lithuanian Cup). Petravicius played 15 EuroCup games averaging 12.9 ppg and 6.1 rpg. In domestic championship he added 14.2 ppg and 6.2 rpg for 22 games.

Marijonas Petravicius arrived to Lietuvos Rytas during the summer 2006. Before that he used to play for Ventspils, Oostende and Mitteldeutscher. He graduated at the South Carolina University in 2003. In April this year he was named 'Eurocup Final Eight MVP'.

According to sport5.co.il, David Bluthenthal (2.01-SF/PF) will be returning to Maccabi Tel Aviv for a 3rd time in his career. The article speaks of a 2-season deal where the player will be making 300.000 dollars per season as a player of Maccabi.

Bluthenthal holds both american and israeli passport so that allows him to play as an israeli player which frees a foreign player spot for Maccabi. He has also played for Benetton Treviso, Fortitudo Bologna, Virtus Bologna and Dynamo St. Petersburg. Last season he played for Le Mans averaging 12.5 points and 3.8 rebounds in 8 games in the Euroleague.

The 1st of July is very close now and according to superbasket.gr, Olympiakos will make an offer to their main transfer target, Anthony Parker(1.98-SG/SF) that was playing for the Toronto Raptors this season. There is already rumored interest in Parker from 5 NBA teams but it seems that the owners of Olympiakos have the biggest wallet!

Parker was also a target of the team last season and his name appeared in many rumors. Tomorrow (1st of July) the official negotiations can begin with all NBA players. There have been some concerns in the greek media about Parker and his age. Parker is currently 34 years old but as he has shown in the NBA he is still in very good shape. This season he averaged 10.7 points 4 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 80 games in the NBA.

Olimpia Milano are keen to renew the contract of american small forward Mike Hall(2.03-SF), according to krepsinis.net. The administration of Olimpia were quite satisfied with the performace of Mike Hall during this season and they want to renew his contract for one or two more seasons.

Mike Hall graduated from George Washington University and went undrafted during his senior season. He later on joined the Tulsa 66ers in the NBDL and only managed to secure 10-day contracts with the Wizards in the NBA. Last season he signed with Olimpia Milano averaging 8.4 points and 4.1 rebounds in 16 games in the Euroleague.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Some of the final pieces of preparation for free agency for the Nuggets will fall into place in the next couple of days, before teams can start negotiating with free agents on July 1. The Nuggets are expected to extend a qualifying contract offer to forward Linas Kleiza, which would mean roughly $2.7 million for him for one season, and the Nuggets retain his restricted free agent status. Kleiza’s stats were down across the board last season after a promising 2007-08 campaign when it appeared he was one of the NBA’s rising stars.

Kleiza picked up his effort in the playoffs, though, playing some big-time minutes to help the Nuggets advance to, and stay competitive in, the Western Conference Finals. His playoffs field goal percentage, 3-point percentage and free throw percentage were all up over his season averages.

Kleiza is seeking a multi-year extension, which he may or may not get as a result of his play last season and the current tough economy. The Nuggets have a chance to match any team that signs him to an offer sheet. Or, Kleiza could decide to play next season with the Nuggets under the one-year qualifying contract and become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Meanwhile, the Nuggets are not expected to extend a qualifying contract offer to center Johan Petro, which would make him an unrestricted free agent.

According to El Mundo Deportivo, Badalona are interested in signing greek-serbian forward, Dusan Sakota(2.09-SF/PF). Dusan Sakota is the son of coach Dragan Sakota and he has a dual nationality of both greek and serbian.

For a number of years he has been part of the roster of Panathinaikos while he also played for Panionios for one season on loan. Sakota doesn't seem to get much playing time in Panathinaikos and so President Villacampa wanted to find out what is situation with Sakota, who is known for his shooting ability behind the arc. This season he averaged 5 points and 1.5 rebounds in 25 games in the greek A1 league, shooting at 45% (25/55) behind the arc.

A signature small forward in European basketball switched Euroleague powerhouses when Regal FC Barcelona signed Pete Mickeal to a two-year deal. Mickeal (198, 31) arrives from Tau Ceramica, where he averaged 10.7 points and 5.6 rebounds in 19 Euroleague games last season. He helped Tau to win the Spanish King's Cup and reach the Euroleague Quarterfinals and the Spanish League finals, losing against Regal FCB.

Last season Mickeal averaged 13 points and 5 rebounds in 29 Spanish League games. In 2008, Mickeal led Tau to the Spanish League title, earning finals MVP honors, in addition to reaching the Euroleague Final Four. Mickeal has also played for Daegu Orions in South Korea, Breogan in Spain, Makedonikos and Peristeri in Greece, Dynamo Moscow in Russia, Yakima in the CBA and Kansas City and Tampa Bay in the ABA. He helped Makedonikos reach the 2005 ULEB Cup Final.

Dexia Mons-Hainaut has signed England NT guard Nate Reinking (188-G-73, college: Kent St.) for another season. Two young Belgian players will also be on the Mons roster next season, Alexandre Libert (186-G-90) and Lorenzo Giancaterino (190-F-90).

Both are members of the Belgian U21 national team which will take part in the EC. This EC takes place in July on the island of Rhodes. Assistant coach on that U21 NT will be Mons-Hainaut assistant coach Johan Roijakkers who has also extended his stay in Mons with 2 seasons. The team has also announced they are close to finalizing deals with Travis Conlan, Ben Ebong and Jim Potter who should all be on the roster for the 2009-2010 season.

Dijon announced via their official website, american point guard Ramel Bradley(1.88-PG) that played for Cedevita Zagreb last season. Bradley graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2008 where he was the team's top scorer in his senior season. He averaged 15.9 points 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 30 games for the Kentucky Wildcats.

Ramel Bradley was invited by the New JerseyNets to play in the NBA Summer League, because the New Jersey Nets liked his effort he gave in workouts and other basketball camps in which Bradley participated. In first pro season in Europe he played for Cedevita Zagreb and now he will be a player of Dijon. He averaged 15.1 points 1.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 24 games for Cedevita Zagreb in Croatia.

According to sport-fm.gr, Nikos Zisis(1.95-PG/SG) is very close to signing his new contract with Olympiakos. The greek team have been patiently waiting for CSKA to officially release the player before making any moves. Zisis' agent Keith Glass is reported in the article, to be in negotiations with Olympiakos but he wants his player to sign a contract only for one season thinking that Zisis would get more playing time than CSKA and hence get a better contract next season.

Zisis will be one more budget-cut for CSKA after so many players. He averaged 5.3 points 1.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 21 games in the Euroleague but only with 16 minutes of playing time.

Real Madrid has used its option to extend Sergio Llull's contract for two more seasons; the point guard will stay on the team until the end of the 2010/11 campaign. The Club has also signed a new contract with Tomas van den Spiegel to keep him on the team for another season, with a unilateral option to extend it for one more.

According to redplanet.gr, Olympiakos will try to push for 3 foreign players spots in the greek A1 league. Currently in Greece there are only 2 foreign(non-EU) players allowed in each team and 4 other european players giving a total of 6 non-greek players in the greek teams.

The general consensus in Greece, is that the league is suffering as a combination of both the economic crisis and the massive gap between the 2 first positions in the league and the rest of the teams. Olympiakos are interested in signing more NBA caliber players and that would work in their favor, as until now they could only use 3 foreign players in the Euroleague that has no such distinction as the greek A1 league.

The decision is meant to be taken on July 6th and it has been rumored to happen for quite some time. This effectively would allow more players from the american market into the greek league giving greek teams the opportunity to create more competitive rosters.

Friday, June 19, 2009

The Hoop will be on a much needed holiday as of now until the 28th of June. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support and hope to see you again soon for even more basketball news. Take care.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

It seems that Armands Skele(1.92-PG/SG) will leave Latvia and Barons after all. He spoke to latvian media and he commented on the rumors about him and Lietuvos Rytas and also about offers he has had. Skele said that he has offers from Spain and Italy but his priority is to consider the offers from Spain.

He also commented on the rumors that circulated in the european media about him playing in Poland or talking to Lietuvos Rytas and he said that its utter nonsense and he doesn't know where do the journalists get all their stuff from. This season playing for Barons, he averaged 17.5 points 4.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 24 games in the latvian league and also 16.3 points 4.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 21 games of the Baltic League.

According to redplanet.gr, Ioannis Bourousis(2.10-C) is a target of Real Madrid. The administration of the spanish team were impressed with Bourousis' performance this season and they are basing their offer on the difference between Olympiakos and Bourousis. The greek team made him an offer for 2 seasons earning 1.2 million euros per season. Bourousis on the other hand asked for 2 million euros. So the difference is quite formidable.

Apart from that Bourousis is waiting for offers that will come from NBA teams in July so there is a long way to go with this story. Chances are that Olympiakos will make him a better offer when this time comes as the general consensus is that Bourousis would prefer to stay in Greece. He averaged 12.5 points and 7.4 rebounds in 22 games in the Euroleague for Olympiakos

According to greek media, NBA finalist Hedo Turkoglu(2.08-SF/PF), spoke to greek radio station Sentra103.3FM regarding the rumors about him and the team of Olympiakos. Turkoglu denied the rumors about an offer from Olympiakos saying that he or his agent have not spoken to anyone from Olympiakos.

However he said that if there was an offer from Olympiakos then he would definitely consider it but until then there is nothing really on the table. He also said that being a free agent he will consider all options and he would do but what's best for him and his family. Turkoglu averaged 15.8 points 4.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists for the Orlando Magic in 24 games in the play-offs helping them get to the NBA finals.

According to sportske.net, one of the things that Ettore Messina asked for from the administration of Real was to sign serbian rising star, Novica Velickovic.(2.05-SF/PF). The article says that Messina's original intention was to bring Velickovic to CSKA but the situation has changed now. In the case of Velickovic a 500,000 euros buy-out would need to be paid to Partizan Belgrade that still has a contract with the player.

The article talks about other targets such Radoslav Nesterovic(2.13-C), who he worked with in Bologna, Rimantas Kaukenas(1.94-SG) of Siena and also Lazaros Papadopoulos(2.12-C) that was loaned to Fortitudo as he was out of coach Plaza's plans.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

According to solobasket.it, Shaun Stonerook(2.03-PF) has already renewed his contract with Siena for 2 more seasons with the option of one more. The president of Siena, Ferdinando Minucci made some statements in a press conference after the end of the finals announcing the renewal of the contract of the american power forward.

Stonerook, who has an italian passport, has been playing for Siena since 2005 and before that he played for Cantu. He has been the cornerstone of Siena's defense and it's only natural that they would want to renew his contract. He averaged 6.9 points 6.4 rebounds 2.2 assists and 2.5 steals in a total of 39 games in the LegaA1 for Siena.

Slovenian youngster Klemen Lorbek (198-G-88) is being on try-out with Serbian champion and Euroleague team Partizan Belgrade. The youngest of brothers Lorbek (Erazem, Domen and Klemen) played this season in Hopsi Polzela and averaged 5.8ppg, 2.2rpg, 1.1apg in 25 games.

Before signing with Hopsi Polzela he played for Postojna and youth teams of Union Olimpija,Helios Domzale and Triglav Kranj. He was also part of U18, U20 and U16 Slovenian NT.

According to sportdog.gr, Dusan Kecman(1.97-SG/SF) has been officially released from Panathinaikos. The serbian guard/forward had another season in his contract with Panathinaikos but the recent transfers of Calathes and Tepic, and also the renewal of Hatzivrettas make his presence obsolete in Panathinaikos. Possible destinations for Kecman are Panellinios or Partizan.

Panathinaikos also cancelled the contract of Giorgi Shermadini(2.16-C) in order to sign him a new contract with more money and for a longer period. Head coach Zeljko Obradovic was quite pleased with the progress of Shermadini and asked from the administration of the team to keep him.

There was a double announcement by Roanne via their official website. They announced the signing of french combo-guard Pape Philippe Amagou (1.85-PG/SG) and also the renewal of the contract of head coach Denys Choulet.

Amagou started his career in Le Mans and in his last season in France he played for Nancy. Last season he played in Greece for Kavala BC. The greek team wanted to retain him in the roster but they couldn't provide him with the money that he wanted. He averaged 8 points 1.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 26 games.

Roanne also extended the contract of head coach Denys Choulet that lead them to the conquest of the ProA league back in 2007 and also to the finals last season.

Sandro Nicevic(2.10-C) renewed with Benetton Treviso for 2 more seasons according to his agent website, beobasket.net. The croatian center received the italian nationality near the end of last season playing for Benetton and now he can play in the italian A1 league without occupying the position of a bosman player.

Nicevic has also been a member of the croatian national team and had a long career in Europe having played for teams like Le Mans, Besiktas, Malaga, AEK Athens and Olimpija Lubljana. This season he averaged 11.8 points 5.6 rebounds 1.6 assists in 34 games in the italian LegaA1 league.

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About Me

The HoopHi, my name is Simon and I am the editor of the Hoop.
My experience with basketball started out as a hobby and later on in the
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